Not only did officers get new phones, each of them was assigned an email address, which makes it easier for Centa to be able to get information to his officers quicker and officers can disseminate information amongst themselves quickly. Commanding officers can use the GPS function on the phones to keep track of where cops are while on duty.

Centa added that with officers issued smartphones now, an incident similar to the one that happened in December 2014, where officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos were killed, might be avoided.

“The department had gotten a fax from Baltimore that a killer was on his way to NY to harm police officers,” Centa said. “This will enable us to get that information to the cop’s desk rather than have it faxed to all different precincts and boroughs before it’s given to the police officers.”

Centa went on to say that he expects smartphones to become an essential tool for officers as they will likely use them for everything from getting information to processing arrests.

Cop of the Month

Officer Ywoeh Alrubyai was named Cop of the Month by the 84th Precinct Community Council during the meeting for his effort in helping to remove a gun off the streets of Downtown Brooklyn.

Alrubyai was returning from court to his post on Fulton Street in January of 2015 when he witnesses a fight spill off of an MTA bus. One of the individuals ran, someone yelled out that they had displayed a firearm on the bus and Officer Alrubyai chased after him. Alrubyai eventually followed the perp into an office building on Livingston Street and apprehended the criminal with no further incident.

“It shows a lot of bravery knowing someone has a gun and you still run after them, but it’s what police do,” said Leslie Lewis, president of the 84th Precinct Community Council. “Police Officer Alrubyai was able to apprehend this perp and recovered a loaded .380 semi-automatic handgun. For getting a handgun off the streets, he is our cop of the month.”

Crime Report

Major crime is down more than 24 percent within the 84th Precinct over the last 28 days, according to Centa. The only area in which the precinct has seen a rise in a major crime involves grand larceny auto.

Six vehicles have been stolen within the 84th Precinct so far this year, Centa said. Two of those six were Zipcars that were rented with stolen credit cards, and an arrest was made involving those incidents, according to Centa. One other stolen car was left running on the street while its owner went into a store, he added.

There was also an issue with robberies in the area South of Atlantic Avenue between Fourth Avenue and Court Street where four robberies have occurred within the last month, two involved handguns, said Centa. He added that measures have been taken to address that specific issue and the precinct hasn’t witnessed any further issues.

“When we have similar crimes in a tight area in a short amount of time, it certainly gets our attention,” Centa said. “We’ve taken steps to alleviate that, and since those steps were taken, we haven’t had any issues. We’ll keep monitoring that.”

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